"We're Not Stopping Until Someone Shits Their Pants"

While zombies may have occupied the cultural zeitgeist for well over a decade, there may be some sort of life left in the concept yet. If so, few could be more enthusiastic about delivering it than the crew from New Zealand responsible for The Generation of Z; a show that takes audience participation so seriously it places them at the heart of a brutally realistic zombie apocalypse.

As an immersive transmedia venture, actor-writer Ben Farry explains, The Generation of Z is a labour of love. "What we've done with every version of the show is to set it in the cultural context of wherever it's playing; it's entirely site-specific. With Edinburgh, we're in negotiation with a few groups, all of whom are going to the wall to make the show bigger and better. Scare Scotland, for example, having been assembling zombie extras; people have even been finding us armoured vehicles. The support, which seems to happen wherever we go, has been great."

The Generation of Z's universe has been lovingly crafted, with a level of detail one might expect from a story its creators hope will soon extend to games and graphic novels. "We want it to be visceral," explains Farry, "which is difficult in theatre. There's always the idea in the back of your head that none of this is real. Scaring someone to the point where they can no longer handle it is a definite goal."

Producer Charlie McDermott particularly relishes this part of the process. "I said at the beginning, 'We're not stopping until someone shits their pants.' I was joking, but on the last night of our first season, someone did wet themselves. So close, and yet so far..."

As one might expect from a show capable of provoking such extreme responses, there are measures in place for when things go awry. "I'm quite worried about Edinburgh," Farry admits, "which is why we need security people in the audience. We had a situation in Christchurch. One storyline calls for an audience member to go off on their own, on a supply run to the other side of the facility. They get 'killed' by my character, who has been infected, and the makeup department transform them into a zombie for the finale. For 99% of people, it's an amazing experience, but this guy... He was very drunk. So the rest of the audience was watching his journey on CCTV. And despite the fact he had been briefed about what was going to happen, when I emerged from the darkness, he hit me around the head with a bottle."

McDermott, however, is confident about the show's precautions—now revised, one presumes, to be very bottle-aware—with perhaps a hint of ghoulish curiosity regarding unintended consequences. "I have to give a big warning speech at the beginning. We've got Health and Safety up the wazoo. Blast radiuses for all our explosions, an emergency psychiatrist waiting at the local hospital..." He gives an evil chuckle. "But I like the idea of people signing their lives away."